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Burma Railway POW honoured in farewell

MARK COLVIN: There are few of them left now, veterans of the sadism and brutality of the Thai-Burma railway in the Second World War.

One of the few was buried this week.

For the last 70 years Roy Cornford lead a mostly ordinary working class life on the south coast of New South Wales.

But his place in history is assured by his experience as a prisoner of the Japanese - not just on the infamous railway, but also in the so-called 'hell ships', which were effectively slave transports.

This report by William Verity.

WILLIAM VERITY: Like many veterans, Roy Cornford rarely spoke about his time as a prisoner of the Japanese.

He would complain of nerves and spent the last 35 years of his life in retirement growing plants for charity and fishing near his home on the New South Wales south coast.

But when he did tell his story, it revealed his extraordinary place in history.

STEVE CORNFORD: Dad didn't talk about much for many years.

WILLIAM VERITY: His son, Steve Cornford, gave the eulogy at his father's funeral this week.

STEVE CONFORD: He just didn't like to talk about all the things that had happened to him and his mates.

WILLIAM VERITY: Roy Cornford was one of a dozen former POWs (prisoners of war) who was healthy enough to travel for the 70th anniversary for the fall of Singapore in 2012.

Here he is talking at the time to Fran Kelly for the RN Breakfast Program.

ROY CORNFORD: Well, I dare say it was very frightening because you didn't know where you were or what they were going to do or what was going on in the world because you got no news or anything.

You didn't know where your mates were, or anything, so it was very worrying and very frightening.

WILLIAM VERITY: But it was his survival against all the odds on the infamous hell ship, the Rakuyo Maru that cemented Cornford's reputation as one of the luckiest men to survive the war.

He was one of just 168 survivors out of 1159 POWs on board the ship that was taking the prisoners to Japan for slave labour.

After the ship was torpedoed twice by an American submarine, the USS Pampanito, Cornford spent four days clinging to wreckage in the South China Sea, as he told journalist Chris Masters in 2002.

ROY CORNFORD: We tied two rafts together and there was 18 of us, and when we got rescued four days later there was only seven of us of that 18 alive.

WILLIAM VERITY: When the Pampanito returned it had room for just 73 survivors - Cornford was the 73rd man hauled out of the water.

There's a photo of him entering the submarine before it submerged, leaving hundreds of POWs to drown.

Cornford was one of just 92 Australian survivors of the hell ships, and the symbol of a generation, according to the NSW president of the RSL, Rod White.

ROD WHITE: We should never forget the contribution of what many of us refer to as the 'Great Generation", and we're now seeing, sadly with the passing of Roy, the demise of this generation, and in particular those who served and gave so much to the nation in World War II.

WILLIAM VERITY: He says now may be a time to say a grateful and final farewell to those few veterans who are left.

ROD WHITE: We lost a whole division, the great Eighth Division and Roy's passing is just so sad because there's so few of these prisoners of war of the Japanese of that period of time with us today and we should really take this as an opportunity of pausing to remember the loss of Roy Cornford and so many others in recent times and treasure those who are still with us today.

WILLIAM VERITY: But for his family, Roy Cornford was much more than a war hero. He was a good man, and a humble one too, who never asked for thanks or recognition for what he had given his country. Here's his son, Steve Cornford.

STEVE CORNFORD: We remember dad as a hardworking man who provided for his family and other people will see what dad's been through and I'm sure they'll be really surprised and proud of what he's done, a great man.